Five people have run out of the cafe at the centre of a siege in Sydney several hours after the incident began.<br /><br /> Two women and three men were seen running from the exits of the building housing the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place where a gunman has taken an unknown number of hostages.<br /><br /> It is unclear whether the hostages had been released or had escaped.<br /><br /> View image | gettyimages.com<br /><br /> Dozens of heavily armed police have locked down the centre of the city and are said to be in contact with the gunman.<br /><br /> View image | gettyimages.com<br /><br /> The siege began around 9.45am local time. Within minutes of the suspected gunman arriving a black flag with Arabic writing was seen raised to the window.<br /><br /> One member of the public described the suspect:<br /><br /> “He was quite tall, probably late forties. Had a long white sleeve shirt on with a black vest. And he was very calm, he was just pacing.” <br /><br /> Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who has warned of militant plans to attack Australian targets convened a meeting of the cabinet’s national security committee for a briefing.<br /><br /> During a press conference earlier he said: “We have to appreciate that even in a society such as ours there are people that would wish to do us harm. That’s why we have police and security organisations of the utmost professionalism.”<br /><br /> British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted a message of concern.<br /><br /> I was briefed overnight on the siege in Sydney. It’s deeply concerning and my thoughts are with all those caught up in it.— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) December 15, 2014<br /><br /> Concerns about an attack in Australia by radical Islamist has been growing over the last year with security agents raising the terrorism threat level to ‘high’ in September.
